1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the mounting of items in a card file which may be randomly accessed by a human, and relates more particularly to structures which facilitate the mounting of a variety of card-like objects, including business cards, in such a file.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A common index card filing system has been used by business people worldwide since the 1930's and before.
The principal feature of this system is a pair of identically shaped rails spaced typically 1" or 1.5" apart which secure cards which are appropriately slotted with T-shaped cutouts or other configurations. The cards snap onto the rails in such a fashion that they can be flipped back and forth quite visibly as one examines the deck looking for a particular card. Another feature of the system is the fact that the cards are easily attached and removed for rearrangement. This card filing system takes a variety of forms. Thus wheels, covered wheels, racks, covered racks, mini-trays, etc., are offered to house lists, cards, snapshots and other objects, so long as these objects present the necessary shaped slots to complement the shape of the two rails.
Recognizing the continuing popularity of such card file structure, inventors have created numerous product configurations over the years which rely on these rails to hold the cards into a freely accessible and easily rearrangeable file deck. The manufacturers of these files, such as Rolodex Corporation of Secaucus, New Jersey, Eldon Industries, Inc., of Hawthorne, California, and others, usually offer plain white cards, appropriately slotted, onto which information may be typed or handwritten. Very often people use a scissors to trim a business card to smaller dimensions so it will fit onto these cards and attach the business card to the plain white card by means of cellophane tape or staples. Other manufacturers offer clear vinyl envelopes or cases which are appropriately slotted, into which may be inserted file cards, business cards, snapshots and the like, which then may be attached to the dual rails. The drawback of this approach is that the vinyl envelopes are relatively expensive and it is somewhat time consuming to insert the cards into the cases. Further, the cases themselves add to the thickness of each entry, thereby reducing the capacity of the file.
U.S Pat. No. 3,970,397 "Business Card System", Armstrong, discloses a 4.times.5 inch card with markings and perforations for selectively removing material from slots to form any one of a number of desired card configurations. That patent pertains to a specially manufactured card, and does not address the problem of modifying the preponderance of existing business cards or other objects to render them receptive to the dual rails.
A company named Matex of Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, markets a product in the form of an individually fabricated and packaged press-on member having openings therein matching the configuration of uniquely spaced rails on a special Matex index file. By applying the member to the back of a business card or the like, the card can be placed in the Matex file. The Matex file is a new system which does not address the possibility of altering cardlike objects to render them attachable to the many existing dual rail files.
Despite the permanent popularity of the dual rail filing system and despite several attempts to solve the problem of using these rails to accommodate business cards and snapshots, there has not yet been introduced a totally workable and attractive solution.